Urgent rethink required as Germany’s Energy Transition stalls

With the German
election looming later this month, the country is seeing its ambitious Energy
Transition – the Energiewende – stall. The former global leader is seeing the
rate at which renewable energy is being installed dramatically fall.

Behind the
decline, argues the Energy Watch Group in a new report, is a series of policy
failures. The tender process, put in place to encourage renewable deployment
and replace Germany’s feed-in tariff, has been a complete failure, says the
Energy Watch Group. Dramatic declines in large scale solar PV, biomass,
hydropower, and geothermal have taken place since tenders were introduced, with
wind power set to follow suit in 2019.

Most worryingly,
at the rate at which renewables are being installed in Germany at present, they
will be insufficient to replace nuclear closures and will derail the country’s
decarbonization program.

“Germany moved
from frontrunner to laggard, exactly at the time when renewables are the
cheapest option, and Germany must rethink its policy structures and move away
from tenders towards a modern feed-in tariff,” says Hans-Josef Fell, former
German parliamentarian and Energy Watch Group President.

Fell observes that
in the current election campaign, energy and Germany’s Energy Transition
project has been sidelined, and must urgently return to the center.

The Energy Watch
Group report sets out not only the extent of the policy failures regarding
renewables, but also points to the danger to the German economy if it and the
Energy Transition continues to stall.

“Germany is
becoming disconnected from one of the most dynamic and disruptive sectors
within the global economy, with China, India, and the U.S. standing by to take
the lead,” said Dieter Janecek, German Parliamentarian, and member of the
Bündnis 90/Die Grünen party’s economic and energy committee.

“These countries
are embracing this new economy, solar, wind, e-mobility, storage at the moment
Germany is turning its back. In some years Germany will import the technologies
from abroad, and no-one will buy the German technology and products.”

The Energy Watch
Group advises that the new majority in the German parliament after the
forthcoming election should pursue a very different policy agenda with regards
to renewable energy deployment. This should involve: